Solar Power May Cost the Same as Coal by 2013

There may be as little as two years left before solar power achieves grid parity with more traditional forms of energy in the US, if new estimates from Bloomberg are correct. With the possibility of solar power as cheap as coal for utility companies within our grasp, are you ready for the world that’s coming?

The new forecast comes from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which says that solar is already competitive, costwise, with peak electricity prices in California, Japan and the Middle East. With the cost of solar projects expected to halve over the next decade, Bloomberg expects parity between solar and traditional power by 2013, two years ahead of predictions from the Bush administration and other sources. This doesn’t necessarily mean that major corporations and power companies are about to jump into the clean and renewable energy wholescale, but as Fast Company puts it, even “evil conglomerates with shareholders can’t really afford to make economically stupid decisions, as much as their leaders secretly want to destroy the environment.”